Feature: Tough job for saving trees in Uganda's northeastern semi-arid region

The rumbling sound of a pick truck on the rugged roads of Nakapiripirit is a tip-off to 55 year old Rofel Losia of Nakalale village.

From a distance Losia ducks into the bush running away from enforcement officers who are tracking down people burning charcoal, an act the district considers illegal.

Charcoal burning is a booming business in this part of the country. The few trees the region, also known as Karamoja, has are being burnt down as the young and old try to cash in.

On the roadsides, hundreds of bags of charcoal are lined up waiting for buyers from other parts of the country, even from neighboring northwestern Kenya.

The driving force has been the high demand of charcoal in the east African country.

Over 95 percent of Uganda households use wood fuels (wood and charcoal) as a main source of energy for cooking, according to the 2010 Uganda National Household Survey Report.

Uganda currently has a total forest cover of over 3.7 million hectares, according to the environment ministry. The country, however, has lost more than 900,000 hectares of forest cover in the last 10 years. Each year, 92,000 hectares of forest cover is cleared in the country.

While the country has started feeling the effect of deforestation, Karamoja which is already dry has bared the brunt the most.

Prolonged dry spells have reduced the people here to depending on humanitarian food aid. Efforts by them to plant crops were futile as they were burnt by the scorching sun shine.

"In the past, this region would receive rains from March to May, before a short dry spell sets in. Then rains would resume from August to about November. Lately, we can even enter May without rains. The result is frequent famine," said John Lotyang, the Moroto natural resource officer.

As a mitigation measure, the local government authorities have resorted to banning the burning of charcoal. For example Nakapiripirit district in February this year passed a bylaw banning charcoal burning and transportation by unlicensed persons.

Besides clients, Losia and group keep a sharp eye on the road for any suspicious district local government vehicles.

"I have lost counts of the number times they have confiscated bags of charcoal from us. A district double cabin pickup with police appears unexpectedly, loads our bags of charcoal and cruises back to the district. We can't follow up because you will also be arrested," Losia said.

Despite incurring these heavy loses, Losia just like several of his colleagues, is not ready to give up on charcoal burning. They argued that it is their source of livelihood.

Christine Lokiru, the Kotido district forestry officer explains that the lack of an explicit law on charcoal burning, the high poverty rates in the district plus the land tenure system in Karamoja have made it increasingly hard to check charcoal burning in the area.

"In Karamoja, land ownership is communal. Besides, there's no precise Act (law) against charcoal burning. The existing one (The National Forestry and Tree Planting Act, 2003) mainly focuses on conservation of forests not the rangelands we have here," Lokiru said.

She cited a case where police last year made an impromptu operation in which two truckloads of charcoal and 10 charcoal burners were netted. When the suspects were arraigned before Kotido magistrate's court, they were released for lack of a prosecutable offense.

This, Lokiru says, discourages enforcement against charcoal burning.

Despite several challenges, the champions of fighting charcoal burning are not about to give up. The police in Nakapiripirit have erected several check points along all major routes

"No vehicle, either private or Government, carrying more than two bags of charcoal, is allowed to cross these checkpoints," Cox Apamaku, the Nakapiripirit District Police Commander said. Endit